ready to baste

this little piece is now ready to baste and quilt.  i took this photo from an angle, which explains the wonkiness of the photo.  after viewing all the red and white quilts displayed in new york earlier this year, i was compelled to make one of my own.  in my new sense of frugality of time, i made a wallhanging instead of a larger piece.  the binding will be more of the red.  my desire to make the schoolhouse block has been quenched, even though i'd really like to have a big quilt in this pattern. ***** just this morning started quilting the lovers' links quilt.  now that summer is officially here, and with temps climbing to 80s today, i'm not sure how long it will take to quilt this bed quilt, but pretty sure it will be done by the time autumn rolls around.  first up, though, is to finish the spools piece to cross off another UFO from the list. 

saturday squishie

these little gals arrived in saturday's mail....how cute!  they are all fused, ready to get put into some adorable projects.  i have a few in mind already!  i'll add them to my list, of course.  this weekend i did get the lovers' links quilt all basted, a dicey task in my very small space.  but it's done and i've got my quilting patterns ready to start the quilting.  with the weather warming up, this quilt and the hawaiian will be worked on as temperatures allow.  ***** this coming weekend is an official stashbuster retreat to work on small stuff.  there's a stack of odd pieces that need to morph into strips and squares, plus i have 3 small pieces ready to baste--the red/white schoolhouse, a christmas tablerunner and the moda wreath.  course, i still have 4 days before the retreat starts, so those could be done before then.  ***** a sunny, beautiful monday and i've got my week's tasks outlined and ready to start!

the design wall, start of the grand tour (9 photos in all)

well, today the curtains finally got hung so the redo started late last winter is complete.  first on your left is the design wall, a little shaky at times but it works.  it's the door to the room and really the only space for the design wall, a piece of flannel on a rod.  i've put these 9 photos in separate posts to keep the descriptions close to the actual photos.  the room is about 11x12 and i think i've pretty much maxed out every possible square inch.  in my dreams, of course, it's much larger without carpet on the floor and more shelving and a larger cutting space (plus more storage), but it works pretty well for what i need to do AND it keeps me from accumulating too much stuff, which is far to easy to do.  some time in the next week or so, i'm going to pull out all my fabric and take photos of that as well, just to see how much there really is.  so, feel free to take this virtual tour if you like. 

closet door aka memo board

here is where the wallhanging of the month gets posted, as well as miscellaneous cards, magnetic poetry and other stuff.  the basket on the door has quilty/sewing tools and the tote was received in a swap. 

the stash and entertainment corner

most of my stash is in these drawers.  the 2 batts are in a bag off to be basted (tops in bottom of bag).  the polyfil needs to go in the bottom drawer, just can't get to it at the moment.  my stencils, templates and rulers hang on the side of the drawers.  that's a collection of wooden spools you see hanging there.  

the old viking aka sewing space

see the new curtains!  they give me privacy from the nosy nellies in the parking lot.  as you can see there is just barely room for the sewing chair in front of the 2 sewing tables, not ideal but it works.  though things are a bit cluttered at the moment, this setup forces me to put things away after they're used.  i am looking around for something with a small footprint for the laptop, which i use with totes underneath; otherwise it's too low.  when i'm sewing, i move it off the table to a safer place.  this setup also lets me pull the blinds all the way up and keep them open for plenty of natural light. 

the "new" ironing/cutting space

we had this table but it was a bit concave in the middle, so i purchased a board, covered it with batting and ironing board fabric to give me more ironing and cutting space.  i can leave the iron up all the time (as you can see) plus there is storage room underneath.  the tote has finished quilted items as well and you can just barely see the bulletin board in the corner on the right.  only 4 more pics!

clothes storage

this chest was found on the roadside with a "free" sign on it, so home it came.  it isn't my choice really, but it works until i can find a tall chest of drawers that will free up some floor space.  the wallhanging matches the fabrics in the double irish chain, it just needs to be moved. 

the quilty shelves

here are the UFOs in shoeboxes, plus some stash and kits as well.  the bottom shelf currently has CDs and LP albums and my tape deck/tuner.  on the right is my stack of quilters' newsletter mags that i like to look through now and then for inspiration.  the top shelf is now piled high with finished projects and some projects basted waiting for quilting.  there simply isn't any other place to store them.  

the bedroom part

the wall piece is one i made a long time ago with mostly repros but a few real vintage fabrics.  right now i've the double irish chain quilt and pillowcases on the bed.